Over the coming weeks we'll be officially updating our Policy and Legislation page for the 2025 legislative session and statewide policy work, but in the meantime for all you ocean and coastal policy junkies out there, here's a little forecast for next year's work!
OCEAN PROTECTION
While our Marine Reserve legislative effort was successful this year garnering nearly unanimous and broad bipartisan support in the 2024 legislative session (HB 4132), the agencies and Governor’s budget have proposed other plans to spend those dollars - specifically, for offshore wind development. We’ll be activating during the budget process to protect those marine reserve funds from the raid on this year’s ocean conservation success. Other proposed 2025-27 budget cuts targeted at our ocean include two positions for coordinating Oregon’s Nearshore Conservation Strategy as well as the Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia coordinator, total bummer but we'll be activating.
Oregon's Governor signs the 2024 Marine Reserve Bill with partners, just weeks before the agency, and now Governor's, proposed budget swept the funds allocated in the newly passed legislation.
Meanwhile for our offshore wind development engagement, we’ll be busy representing recreational and environmental interests in the state’s Offshore Roadmap process in effort to further Oregon’s process for evaluating siting of offshore renewable energy. Unique and sometimes unexpected, recreational users have some big considerations related to nearshore impacts and port development specifically related to surf, dive and other special recreational areas. Lastly at the federal level and in the opposite direction of renewable, we expect more oil and gas leases for the continental shelf will be back on the table with the incoming administration.
Wind farm installation. Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom.
The newly launched Oregon Ocean Alliance, which Surfrider is a proud founding member, is lined up with two awesome legislative efforts to protect eel grass and estuaries and support conservation and research efforts for rocky habitats. Oregon’s estuaries and eelgrass habitats are essential ecosystems for climate resilience, important fisheries, cultural and recreational uses, but they are disappearing and in need of conservation. The Eelgrass Action Bill will be a major legislative campaign of the Alliance in 2025 and has growing momentum and bipartisan support in Salem. The effort will help Oregon establish needed conservation targets, monitoring and management actions and further policy recommendations for these critical habitats.
Similarly, recently protected nearshore rocky habitat areas require important investments to manage and protect these newly designated conservation areas and the Alliance will work towards a Rocky Habitat Conservation Bill.
PLASTIC POLLUTION
We have a number of efforts with our partners in the Zero Waste coalition to advance on plastic pollution. We’ll be looking beyond the bag ban to improve on Oregon’s plastic bag ban policy and reduce other single use plastics in some of our most wasteful consumer practices where reusables make economic and sustainable sense. Other policies introduced will support prevention of microfibers from our laundry and wastewater systems from entering the aquatic environment, a growing concern for our environment and our health. At the source we’ll be defending the Recycling Modernization Act, an effort which goes into effect in June of 2025 that holds producers responsible for single-use plastics in Oregon and an effort we hope to see move forward in Washington next year.
COAST & CLIMATE
We’ll be scaling up our policy and legal efforts to support the Oregon's Beaches Forever campaign. With strong support from our legal team and partners like CRAG and Oregon Shores, we’ll be engaging in statewide rulemaking and tracking evolving statutory updates for permitting and managing our shrinking beaches amidst the coastal squeeze. This will include continued work at the local level to evolve and adapt local planning to better support climate adaptations and provide meaningful examples of nature based solutions on the ground. We’ll also be furthering our support to invest in conservation and planning for climate resilient coastal habitats like Oregon’s unprecedented estuaries and eelgrass beds. The newly launched Oregon’s Ocean Alliance will be a powerful new force and opportunity for us to advance coastal climate solutions at the state level.
BEACH ACCESS
Back again at the state legislature in 2025 will be policies to address recreational immunity and further permanent solutions for access at many of most treasured public spaces. A recent ruling and opinion on "recreational immunity", a law that protects landowners from liability, had resulted in the closure of over 20 coastal trails including some important beach accesses. This follows a temporary legislative solution from earlier this year.
Following the Dept. of Land Conservation and Development’s (DLCD) Beach Access and Policy Framework working group, we’ll be tracking and engaging in the agency’s rulemaking process for coastal and beach access. The effort follows a long process of working group engagement to better address climate, cultural and accessibility needs through access land use policy. The agency this year completed its Access Guide for Planners and associated storymap for Improved Public Access on the Oregon Coast.